ATG3 Recombinant Protein

Background:

ATG3 (Autophagy-related protein 3; APG3-like; PC3-96) is an ubiquitous member of the ATG3 family of proteins. It belongs to the autophagin protein family important in autophagy, the biological process which is involved in degradation of endogenous proteins and damaged organelles. ATG3 is an E2-like enzyme involved in the initial stages of autophagocytosis, autophagy and mitochondrial homeostasis. Autophagocytosis is a starvation-induced process responsible for the transport of cytoplasmic proteins to the lysosome/vacuole. It catalyzes the transfer of ATG7-bound ATG8 (LC3; GATE16; GABA-RAP in mammals) to phosphatidylethanolamine, which is essential for autophagy. It acts as an autocatalytic E2-like enzyme, catalyzing the conjugation of ATG12 to itself. The ATG12 conjugation to ATG3 plays a role in mitochondrial homeostasis but not in autophagy.